A post on the Steam Users' Forums from a couple of weeks ago offers a distressing overview of Windows 8 from Croteam (thanks Gamer's Hell), as Alen Ladavac says: "I would very much like to clear this one thing. I think that this is very important as there are 'under the hood' motions related to Windows 8 that are hidden and not well understood even by many developers (yet), and certainly not by most gamers." Saying "Gabe Newel did not overreact," he goes on to describe how "under the hood, the new tiled UI is a means for Microsoft to lock Windows applications into a walled garden, much like the one on iOS." Here's more:

There is this "small detail" that Microsoft is not advertising anywhere, but you can find it dug deep in the developer documentation:

One cannot release a tiled UI application by any other means, but only through Windows Store!

I cannot even begin to stress out just how horrible this idea is! There is no side-loading, except for corporate use inside one company, and that works only on the enterprise edition of Windows 8. Do we all understand what that means? You cannot download an application from the Internet and run it on your computer. You have to get it from Microsoft's store. Even if it is a free app!

If it was just about "being downloaded from Windows store", it would not be a problem. It would be nice to have a common hub to download things from. But to get an app onto that store, it has to be certified by MS. This means bringing the "console experience" onto your desktop. Each app that you will get through the Windows Store will have to adhere to certain requirements imposed by MS. So far, we know that they've banned mature games, like Skyrim, CoD, and Serious Sam.[*] They have forbidden modding. They could very well forbid Open Source if they want. But even if these terms were not there, this is still a certification system. With all of its downsides, including uncertain release dates, rare and late patches, and everything turning out to be more expensive and sucking more.

While, theoretically, desktop applications are exempt from these requirements, it looks more and more like just a foot-in-the-door technique. A large number of developers have expressed their concern with possibility that, probably in Windows 9 or something like that, the ability to get even desktop apps in any other way than through Windows app store may very well be removed. When that happens it will be too late.

I would not invest into supporting the tiled UI apps (which MS now conveniently calls "Windows Store apps" - does that ring a bell?), until MS removes the requirement that they have to be shipped through Windows Store on desktop at least - and thereby remove the requirement of certifying them with MS. Certification is a broken concept and should be abolished.

Now, while in current state Windows 8 do look like they support plain desktop apps seamlessly, the removal of start menu and use of "charms" even on the desktop looks like a pretty blunt attempt to force users to "get used" to the tiled UI. It would be fine by me if it wasn't for the aforementioned certification issue.

So, it is a vicious circle. And not an accidental one. This one was carefully designed to be that way. I say: no thank you, I'll skip on that one.

Verno wrote on Nov 18, 2012, 02:39:Just because something isn't new doesn't mean people can't discuss the problems associated. I'm not sure why you think people just all need to run in the opposite direction any time they have an issue with something either, particularly when they're a business that needs to serve its customers wherever they might exist.

Discussing problems is all well and good, but the melodramatics need to be toned down. The post from someone at Croteam doesn't serve any purpose, other than adding to Gabe's catastrophe comment. It doesn't even explain what their own stance on DRM is.

There is a big difference, one is owned by the company who makes the operating system and exercises a great deal of control including deciding whether or not to even allow those aforementioned applications compete on the Windows Store in the future.

Until the time comes when Windows Store is the only way to get applications on Windows, there's no difference between Steam, Origin, Uplay and Windows Store.

Microsoft also has a lot of control over the direction the market will move in the future and this exactly because they basically forced and frontloaded their own store.

Every single digital retailer likes to push their store. Steamworks, Uplay, Origin and Windows Store all force their store on to other retailers.

Windows 8 should be great, it's largely Windows 7 with some minor improvements. I would word the Metro stuff differently, that's putting it mildly.

Windows8 still has more changes compared to Windows7, than what Win7 had compared to Vista. The changes at kernel level are fairly substantial, and there are bunch of very useful new features (ISO mount, better SSD management, better printer stack, better network discovery, better desktop rendering with WDDM1.2, better alt-tab handling, better battery life on laptops, better AHCI support, native USB3, better file history feature, new storage space feature etc.) and it still takes less overall hardware resources than Win7.